WILL YOUR HEART PASS THE TEST?

Drue Kataoka, in collaboration with ILMxLAB, created an innovative ‘nft for good’ art piece entitled ‘Will Your Heart Pass The Test?’ which was auctioned in December 2021 via Phillips.com. All funds raised benefitted The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change (“The King Center”) and #StopAAPIHate.

THE PROJECT

Led by an all-female team, 100% of The Proceeds benefitted The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change and #StopAAPIHate.

“This project has been a labor of love for a huge team across London, Singapore, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Las Vegas. In the male-dominated world of art, technology, crypto, and visual effects, it’s remarkable that this project was led by women from 5 inspiring organizations covering the art, vision, execution and non-profit dimensions” Drue Kataoka said.

Will Your Heart Pass the Test?’ was created in response to the growing number of racist and sexist imagery within the NFT ecosystem. The piece serves as a reminder that while the internet, social media, and mobile technologies have served as a democratizing force in communications and content creation, there has been missed opportunity to confront an exhausted, suffering world plagued by the social ills of racism and sexism. 

THE ARTIST

About Drue Kataoka Art Studios
Drue Kataoka Studios (www.Drue.net) is an art studio based in Silicon Valley headed by artist, technologist and activist Drue Kataoka. Bridging tech and art and rooted in Zen philosophy, Drue’s work
spans both physical art forms such as her signature Ambrosia reflective sculptures, and technological art
such as virtual reality, NFTs, and art-science collaborations for the first zero-gravity art exhibit in space at
the International Space Station. Over the years, Drue has been a strong voice for social justice, raising
funds and visibility for important causes. Recipient of the Martin Luther King Jr. Research & Education
Institute Award for her extensive community service. Board member, Space for Humanity and HOPE
Foundation USA.

THE CHARITIES

About The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change 

Established in 1968 by Mrs. Coretta Scott King, The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change (“The King Center”) has been a global destination, resource center and community institution for over a quarter century.The King Center is a 501(c)3. Nearly a million people each year make pilgrimage to the National Historic Site to learn, be inspired and pay their respects to Dr. King’s legacy.

Both a traditional memorial and programmatic nonprofit, the King Center was envisioned by its founder to be “no dead monument, but a living memorial filled with all the vitality that was his, a center of human endeavor, committed to the causes for which he lived and died.” That vision was carried out through educational and community programs until Mrs. King’s retirement in the mid-1990’s, and today it’s being revitalized.

About Stop AAPI Hate

In response to the alarming escalation in xenophobia and bigotry resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council (A3PCON), Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA), and the Asian American Studies Department of San Francisco State University launched the Stop AAPI Hate coalition on March 19, 2020. The coalition tracks and responds to incidents of hate, violence, harassment, discrimination, shunning, and child bullying against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States.

Our approach recognizes that in order to effectively address anti-Asian racism we must work to end all forms of structural racism leveled at Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Music in the trailer has been provided by Brand X.